The Power of Usefulness

INSIGHTS OF THE WISE On December 28, 1990, Hindustan Times published another report, this one by Mr. N.C. Menon, an Indian journalist based in Washington. He wrote that when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev visited India during Rajiv Gandhi’s government, the Prime Minister had proposed close cooperation between India, China, and the Soviet Union to form a bloc against the US (and possibly against the rising European union). Gorbachev, with blunt honesty, replied that what we need most is new technology, and neither India nor China can provide it. For forty years, Russia saw “capitalist West” as its enemy and “socialist India” as its friend. But after long experience, it realized that India brought it no benefit, while the capitalist West could play a vital role in its development. So Russia let India go, ignored complaints, and befriended the capitalist West. The “capitalist nation” won over its greatest enemy through its fruitfulness, while socialist India’s lack of fruitfulness caused it to lose its greatest friend. This is the true secret of success in today’s world. Success in this world is achieved through fruitfulness, not by erecting lofty structures of mere words.